Danny Williams came within a hair of promising a cabinet seat for Patty Pottle if the voters in Torngat Mountains would elect her as the MHA.
That's about as pathetic a gamble as it gets; there really is no other word for it.
Normally, that sort of thing is the hint dropped by desperate candidates trying to hang on to a seat. Normally, when a candidate resorts to spreading that rumour - always denied by the Leader for a whole bunch of reasons - it's a sign that all hope has gone.
Now when the party leader who is the Premier starts running around openly promising he'll pretty much surely plunk Patty in a cabinet seat, you can bet two things:
1. He's reasonably sure his current Labrador cabinet minister is toast.
2. he's desperate to have a seat on the mainland that he is prepared to promise anything to get it.
Might be a clue to voters everywhere.
If you want Danny Williams' attention: elect an Opposition MHA.
But seriously, it is long since past due for political reporters to stop spreading the campaign executive jet spin.
Wipe the Kool-Aid from your lips. brush the salmon flecks and cheesecake crumbs from your lapels.
Put the Premier's run through Labrador in perspective. It isn't about taking seats away from anyone.
It's all about desperately avoiding losing the two seats in Labrador the Premier's already got.
The run is Torngat is actually beyond desperate.
It's pathetic.
As pathetic as another Premier from another party running around claiming that Kilbride and Ferryland were going red.
-srbp-